12/16/2003
Santiago Lyon new AP director of photography; Feldman, Ake new deputies

NEW YORK -- The Associated Press has named Santiago Lyon, a news photographer and photo editor with broad international experience, as its director of photography.

The appointment was announced Tuesday by Kathleen Carroll, AP senior vice president and executive editor.

Carroll also named Michael Feldman and J. David Ake, both senior photo managers in New York, as deputy directors of photography.

Lyon succeeds Vin Alabiso, an AP vice president who was appointed director of global business development/photos in August.

"Santiago is a well-respected photojournalist with a very collaborative, clear-eyed leadership style," Carroll said. "He and Ake and Feldman have a rich body of experience and they share a belief in the teamwork that helps AP's terrific photojournalists do their very best work."

Lyon has been a news photographer and manager for 19 years. He joined AP in 1991 in Cairo, Egypt, after working for United Press International and Reuters. He has covered stories in Mexico, Central and South America, the 1991 Gulf War, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda, Yemen, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. In 1995, while on assignment in Sarajevo, he was wounded by mortar shrapnel.

Lyon served as AP photo editor for Spain and Portugal from 1995 until this year, when he accepted a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. Lyon will begin participating immediately in the major strategic decisions of AP's photo department and take up his new position full-time when his studies finish in June.

Lyon's two new deputies begin their duties immediately.

Feldman has worked in news agency photography for 30 years, half of that time with AP. He has been responsible for sports coverage, the Sept. 11 coverage, and the Iraq war desk. Before returning to New York, he was responsible for the AP's London-based international photo operation.

Ake has more than 20 years' experience in posts around the United States, including Chicago, Washington, San Francisco and Denver. Most recently, he was responsible for national photo coverage for AP. He has worked on numerous presidential campaigns, sports events and other major stories.

contact: Jack Stokes
212-621-1720